Lowest Interest Rates – Mortgage Professional Newport Beach

The Federal Reserve was so spooked by the backup in mortgage rates that it postponed tapering its bond-buying program. But what about prospective home buyers?

Data released Tuesday will shed more light on that topic, with home price gauges from S&P/Case-Shiller and the Federal Housing Finance Agency both due at 9 a.m. Eastern and both covering July. The two series have slightly different methodologies — in June, prices were up 12.1% on the Case-Shiller gauge and up 7.7% on the FHFA gauge from the same period of 2012. But prices should, at least for now, remain resilient, economists say.

At 10 a.m., the Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge for September will be released, with economists polled by MarketWatch expecting a fall to 79.5 from 81.5.

Also on Tuesday, Cleveland Fed president Sandra Pianalto is due to speak about payments systems at a Chicago Fed conference.